• Published 21st Apr 2014
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Sparkle's No. 1 Assistant - Wanderer D

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Loyalty Mission 5: Derpy's Quest Pt.15

Sparkle's No. 1 Assistant

Loyalty Mission 5: Derpy's Quest Pt.15

By Wanderer D

"KILL HER!" Dray shouted. "KILL HER!"

Everyone on the bridge opened fire, trying to get a hit on the unicorn that had suddenly materialized on the bridge.

Twilight blinked out of existence in a cloud of purple sparks, reappearing on the other side of the room. "I am the terror that teleports in space!"

The console where she had appeared exploded into pieces, but she had already reappeared above them, taking two shots with her gun. "I am the glitch in your omnitools that erases your credit when you order a Krogan side dish!!"

"What?" the pirates blinked, ignoring the two that had been downed by Twilight. "Is that a real glitch?"

"KEEP SHOOTING!" Dray hollered, egging them into action once more. "DON'T STOP FOR ANY REASON!"

"I am Commander Sparkle!" Twilight called again, appearing behind Dray, who immediately went pale. "And this is the end of your trip!"

"STOP SHOOTING YOU MORONS!" Dray screeched, diving down to avoid the blasts that tore his chair and all of the surrounding computers to pieces. The entire ship lurched, and the pirates on the bridge held on until the dampeners kicked back in.

By the time Dray poked his head from behind cover, there was no sign of Commander Sparkle.

"Where… where the hell is she?" he finally asked as the others started to look around. "Did we get her?"

One of the monitors lit up, and her face appeared there. "You didn't. I thought about taking you all down… but death would be too easy for kidnappers and slavers." She grinned the sweetest, most innocent smile he had ever seen. "I'd rather make you suffer."

The screen went blank.

"That's it." Dray stood up fully, overlooking the battle outside with some intensity before he glared at the others in the bridge. "Get us out of this system."

"What? But what about the fleet?!"

"I said! GET US OUT!"

"Aye, aye, sir."

Dray glared at the battle still taking place as his ship tilted towards their next destination. The Pathfinder and her allies might've won the battle, but they wound't win the— "Why aren't we moving?"

"I don't know! The FTL engine is not engaging!"

Another crew member gasped. "I've lost all engines!"

The light's flickered and turned off completely and the only light was from the blasts and explosions outside the window. A few seconds later the emergency lights came on.

"We have no choice… we need to take them out and make our way to the engine bay. You," Dray pointed at a salarian sitting at one of the flight control displays, "stay here and get started on calculations with your omni tool for our jump point. As soon as we have the engines on again, you don't wait, we go, understood?" He barely waited for the nod as he picked up several weapons, nodding at his crew as they armed themselves. "Follow me."

"Commander, I have complete access to the ship's systems," EDI said as soon as Twilight materialized in front of her. "Engineer Derpy has already disabled the FTL."

"Excellent," Twilight responded, trotting over to to check on Derpy while EDI sent the signal for the others to regroup.

A part of her was already processing how many calculations the unicorn had to perform with her magic to be able to teleport from one location to another within a vehicle in space, moving at incredible speeds, not to mention the other process investigating just what had happened with Rainbow Dash and the so-called Rainboom… in space.

Ponies… did not seem to follow any logic at all when it came to their exploits, and it fascinated her. It was odd to feel a slight regret at having missed an opportunity such as the one Wrex had taken to interact with these creatures.

But, at the same time, it was what Shepard had pointed out to her that made her unique and more "human". Now that she had acknowledged this error, she would correct it, and Miss Derpy seemed like an excellent pony to work with.

"So do we have a plan?" said pegasus asked, giving Twilight a tired smile.

"We do," Twilight replied, nodding firmly. "We are going to instill the fear of Shepard into these pirates."

EDI tilted her head. "How unusual. I have heard this expression from humans as the 'Fear of God.' It is interesting that you would adapt that to Commander Shepard."

Twilight shrugged. "I don't see the difference."

EDI nodded. These ponies were crazy.

"EDI just sent the message to regroup," Octavia told Wrex.

They both were taking cover behind some overturned tables and the kitchen.

"About time. I'm starting to think these pyjaks are realizing we're really not fighting back."

Octavia, who was resting her back against the counter, tilted just enough to the side to glance back at the pirates shooting at them. "They've barricaded themselves behind another table."

"All of them?"

"Yes."

"Ehehehe." Wrex grinned at her. "Can you shoot the door's electronic lock?"

"Blindfolded and with a hoof behind my back." Octavia twirled in place, with Viola, the Black Widow Rifle, falling from its propped position into her hooves in the fluid movement. She barely aimed and took a shot.

While she was doing that, Wrex casually stood up, ignoring the shots bouncing off of his biotic shield and armor, and, as soon as the doors slid shut, he tossed a grenade at it. The explosive flew across the room in a beautiful arc, bouncing against the door to land behind the three pirates shooting at them, who hadn't realized that the door had closed.

When Octavia emerged fully from cover, she sniffed with mild disgust at the bodies. "Are they dead?"

Wrex glanced behind the table. "I think they'll live. Probably. Maybe. It's always good to have tertiary organs, and redundant nervous systems. Those are the ones that always make it."

Octavia followed him out thoughtfully as he pried open the doors then headed down the corridor towards Twilight.

"Do any of those species have redundant systems?" Octavia asked. "Or even secondary organs?"

"Ha. No."

The hallway lights flickered on and off as Dray slowly moved forth, weapon at the ready, while his minions followed at the same pace, slow and methodical. Like most of his species, Dray had gone through mandatory army training.

Like most of his species, that had consisted mostly of performing raids on agrarian worlds with little to no defenses. And like most of his species, he still didn't get how being a group of hooligans pretending to be a militia that limited itself to easy targets, half-assed terrorism and owning guns didn't actually make them a power onto themselves. Most Batarians didn't really learn what it was to be in an army of any sort unless they were hired by their own cartels, or joined actual mercenary bands, which were—without exception—owned by the same people they supposedly hated and resented.

No one in the Milky Way had accused them of being smart in the grand scheme of things, and Dray was not exactly the cream of the crop when it came to strategic thinking. He had gotten to where he was with murder, backstabbing and a very angry face.

A face that currently was playing all over the galaxy singing a high-pitched song from some indeterminate origin. Probably human.

Dray stopped at every door, and cautiously sent his men ahead to check and make sure the rooms were clear before moving forward. It wasn't until they were two levels lower that things started to go wrong.

Just as Dray and his crew walked slowly through more corridors, Wrex suddenly emerged from a portal that had opened alongside the left wall, tackling two pirates straight through another portal eliciting a panicked squawk that was cut short as soon as the portal closed.

"What?!" Dray and the others turned, firing immediately into the empty corridor, not stopping until they needed to let their weapons cool down. The lights flickered, and the far wall smoked from the barrage of shots, but there was no sign of their crew.

"Come on!" Dray shouted, running down the corridor. "We have to reach the FTL engine!"

They rounded a corner and Dray's several eyes opened wide as he dove to the floor. "Hit the deck!"

Three of his followers did as ordered immediately, the fourth wasn't so lucky, barely registering the shimmering form of Octavia as her camouflage dropped and she took her shot. The unfortunate soul flew back and smashed against the wall, falling face first and staying still. By the time Dray and the others had scrambled to the sides to keep under cover, she was once again gone.

"This way!" Dray shouted, turning to open a door to his right. Again, he was fast enough to dodge out of the way and stumble when the white unicorn with neon blue hair used some sort of giant speaker to slam another of his crew so hard against the wall it dented before he managed to tap the door lock. "Not that way!"

"We're getting destroyed!" another Batarian growled. "This is unacceptable! By the Hegemony, Dray I will have yo—" he didn't finish talking before he was hit by something. Dray watched in horror as the other batarian shook in place as several things seemed to go through his arms and legs. He didn't wait, grabbing his last two crew members and running away, leaving the rest behind.

Their mad dash continued for a couple of levels, until they stood, panting, in front of the FTL Engines room.

"Oh. You made it."

Dray, who was resting against the door, froze in place, then slowly turned his head to stare at Commander Sparkle, who stood at the end of the corridor they had run through. The lights flickered and suddenly she was just a few feet away, and before any of them could raise their weapons, his last two crewmembers were lifted in the strange biotics of the creature.

With a strangled cry, Dray tapped the door open and went through, sealing it behind him and leaving his helpless followers behind.

Dray rested his back against the closed door, trying desperately to control his breath and listen. But no noise came from behind. In front of him the FTL engines rose, ready for him to meddle with… except for one thing.

The creature was like Commander Sparkle, only hornless, and with wings instead. It had a mop of blonde hair and eyes that seemed to be gazing in two directions at once. It was dressed in earth-style armor, and was glaring at him… although its body betrayed its nervousness.

Swallowing, Dray pushed himself to his feet, hefting his weapon. "You think you can stop me, creature?"

"Are you the leader of these… slavers?" it asked, its voice feminine.

Dray snorted. "Yes. I am in charge! And once I get this ship going again, I will enslave all of you!"

The creature closed its eyes and took a deep breath. "It's your fault. It's your fault that I'm here, that Dinky was taken away from her home… your fault that she was foalnapped and I thought I would never see her again." She gritted her teeth, opening her eyes and meeting his, the nervousness fading away. "It's your fault that I thought I'd never get the chance to hear her play the flute again, or go walking in the park or go to her school plays!"

She scratched the metal floor with her front hoof. "It's your fault that she feared for her life! That horrible things could have happened to her if the Pathfinder hadn't happened to be in the same ship as your minion!"

"So what?" Dray snorted. "Lesser beings are born to serve us. To serve the Hegemony. If all you or your filthy spawn can do is be beasts of burden or toys, so be it! We conquer! You serve!"

He opened fire before he even finished shouting, but the female creature had already dodged to the side, galloping fast, then impossibly taking flight within the room, as if carried by invisible winds. She wove around his shots, diving in and hitting his gun arm with her hooves, shattering the armor and making him drop the weapon in surprise.

He tried to backpedal, activating his tech armor for a boost, but a sphere of tech energy came out of the mare's omnitool, shattering his defenses, even as she closed in again, spun in place and hit him with both hind hooves, lifting him off his feet and throwing him across the room.

Breathing hard, Dray spat blood and stood, his injured arm pressed against his chest as his hand slowly edged back to grab his backup gun. "Y-you'll pay for that," he growled as she stepped closer. "You and all your race!"

Time seemed to stop for a moment, both of them locking eyes. Dray's lower two with her left eye, and the upper two with her right eye. And then he moved, bringing up his gun and shooting at her.

It took him a moment to understand.

His gun, held in his hand, aimed slightly up. His shot had almost burned a hole in the metal of the walls, but it had not hit its mark. He slowly gazed down at where the creature was standing, not even looking up at him.

Her hoof, enveloped in the tech of her omniblade was pressed firmly against his chest… with the rest of the blade running him through completely. "Wh-" he gargled, his surprise giving him enough of an adrenaline boost to push her back… and then he was falling into darkness.

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